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A hairstyle designed to provide bald men with head coverage, the combover consists of pulling long hairs at one side of the bald patch over the exposed scalp. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani wore this hairstyle with particularly convincing results.
The combover was actually patented by a father and son team from Orlando, Florida in 1978. In trying to come up with an aesthetic solution to Frank Smith's baldness, son Donald came up with the idea that his father should grow the hair on one side of his head long and then sweep it over his exposed pate. The patent that was filed, complete with instructional diagrams, was meant to enable Frank to bill himself as the father of the hairstyle and to sell a spray that he developed to hold it in place. The spray was never produced and marketed, but the hairstyle was adopted by men the world over.
In 2004, the inventors of the combover were awarded an Ig Nobel prize in engineering in recognition of their accomplishment.
Last updated: October 04, 2004.
